January 10, 2012

Mr. Ronald J. Bounds

Assistant City Attorney

City of Corpus Christi

P.O. Box 9277

Corpus Christi, Texas 78469-9277

OR2012-00472

Dear Mr. Bounds:

You ask whether certain information is subject to required public disclosure under the Public Information Act (the "Act"), chapter 552 of the Government Code. Your request was assigned ID# 442005.

The Corpus Christi Police Department (the "department") received a request for information pertaining to a named individual. You state the department will provide some of the requested information to the requestor with a social security number withheld pursuant to section 552.147 of the Government Code and Texas driver's license and license plate numbers withheld under section 552.130 of the Government Code. ⁽¹⁾ You claim portions of the submitted records are excepted from disclosure under section 552.101 of the Government Code. We have considered the exception you claim and reviewed the submitted information.

Initially, you assert the telephone number and address you have marked in the submitted police records are confidential under section 772.318 of the Health and Safety Code. We note this office recently issued Open Records Letter No. 2011-16393 (2011), a previous determination authorizing the department to withhold under section 552.101 of the Government Code in conjunction with section 772.318 of the Health and Safety Code, the originating telephone numbers and addresses of 9-1-1 callers furnished to the department by a 9-1-1 service supplier established in accordance with chapter 772 of the Health and Safety Code. You also assert the FBI numbers you have marked in the submitted records are confidential under section 411.083 of the Government Code. This office also issued Open Records Letter No. 2011-17207 (2011), a previous determination authorizing the department to withhold FBI numbers under section 552.101 of the Government Code in conjunction with section 411.083 of the Government Code, when requests for such numbers are not made by individuals or entities who are authorized to obtain them under chapter 411 of the Government Code. Therefore, pursuant to Open Records Letter No. 2011-16393, the telephone number and address you have marked must be withheld under section 552.101 of the Government Code in conjunction with section 772.318 of the Health and Safety Code. Furthermore, pursuant to Open Records Letter No. 2011-17207, the FBI numbers you have marked must be withheld under section 552.101 of the Government Code in conjunction with section 411.083 of the Government Code. See Open Records Decision No. 673 (2001) (governmental body may rely on previous determination when elements of law, facts, and circumstances have not changed, decision concludes specific, clearly delineated category of information is excepted, and governmental body is explicitly informed it need not seek a decision from this office to withhold information in response to future requests).

Section 552.101 of the Government Code excepts from disclosure "information considered to be confidential by law, either constitutional, statutory, or by judicial decision." Gov't Code § 552.101. Section 552.101 encompasses the doctrine of common-law privacy, which protects information if it (1) contains highly intimate or embarrassing facts, the publication of which would be highly objectionable to a reasonable person, and (2) is not of legitimate concern to the public. Indus. Found. v. Tex. Indus. Accident Bd., 540 S.W.2d 668, 685 (Tex. 1976). To demonstrate the applicability of common-law privacy, both prongs of this test must be established. Id. at 681-82. A compilation of an individual's criminal history is highly embarrassing information, the publication of which would be highly objectionable to a reasonable person. Cf. U. S. Dep't of Justice v. Reporters Comm. for Freedom of the Press, 489 U.S. 749, 764 (1989) (when considering prong regarding individual's privacy interest, court recognized distinction between public records found in courthouse files and local police stations and compiled summary of information and noted that individual has significant privacy interest in compilation of one's criminal history). Moreover, we find a compilation of a private citizen's criminal history is generally not of legitimate concern to the public. The present request requires the department to compile unspecified law enforcement records concerning the individual named in the request, thus implicating the named individual's right to privacy. Therefore, to the extent the department maintains law enforcement records depicting the named individual as a suspect, arrestee, or criminal defendant, the department must withhold any such information under section 552.101 of the Government Code in conjunction with common-law privacy. We note you have submitted reports that pertain to the named individual, but do not list the named individual as a suspect, arrestee, or criminal defendant. This information does not consist of a compilation of the named individual's criminal history, and it may not be withheld under section 552.101 on that basis. Thus, we will consider your remaining claims for these reports.

Section 552.101 also encompasses information protected by other statutes, such as section 58.007 of the Family Code, which makes confidential juvenile law enforcement records relating to conduct that occurred on or after September 1, 1997. The relevant language of section 58.007 reads:

(c) Except as provided by Subsection (d), law enforcement records and files concerning a child and information stored, by electronic means or otherwise, concerning the child from which a record or file could be generated may not be disclosed to the public and shall be:

(1) if maintained on paper or microfilm, kept separate from adult files and records;

(2) if maintained electronically in the same computer system as records or files relating to adults, be accessible under controls that are separate and distinct from controls to access electronic data concerning adults; and

(3) maintained on a local basis only and not sent to a central state or federal depository, except as provided by Subchapters B, D, and E.

Fam. Code § 58.007(c). Juvenile law enforcement records relating to juvenile delinquent conduct or conduct indicating a need for supervision that occurred on or after September 1, 1997 are confidential under section 58.007(c). See id. § 51.03(a), (b) (defining "delinquent conduct" and "conduct indicating a need for supervision"). For purposes of section 58.007(c), "child" means a person who is ten years of age or older and under seventeen years of age at the time of the reported conduct. See id. § 51.02(2). Upon review, we agree the reports you have marked, and the additional information we have marked, involve juvenile delinquent conduct and a juvenile engaged in conduct indicating a need for supervision. See id. § 51.03(b) (defining "conduct indicating a need for supervision" to include "the voluntary absence of a child from the child's home without the consent of the child's parent or guardian for a substantial length of time or without intent to return"). It does not appear any of the exceptions in section 58.007 of the Family Code apply to the information at issue. Therefore, we find the information you have marked and the additional information we have marked are confidential under section 58.007(c) of the Family Code and must be withheld under section 552.101 of the Government Code.

In summary, pursuant to Open Records Letter No. 2011-16393, the marked telephone number and address must be withheld under section 552.101 of the Government Code in conjunction with section 772.318 of the Health and Safety Code. Pursuant to Open Records Letter No. 2011-17207, the marked FBI numbers must be withheld under section 552.101 of the Government Code in conjunction with section 411.083 of the Government Code. To the extent to the department maintains law enforcement records depicting the named individual as a suspect, arrestee, or criminal defendant, the department must withhold any such information under section 552.101 of the Government Code in conjunction with common-law privacy. The department must withhold the information marked under section 552.101 of the Government Code in conjunction with section 58.007(c) of the Family Code. The remaining information must be released.

This letter ruling is limited to the particular information at issue in this request and limited to the facts as presented to us; therefore, this ruling must not be relied upon as a previous determination regarding any other information or any other circumstances.

This ruling triggers important deadlines regarding the rights and responsibilities of the governmental body and of the requestor. For more information concerning those rights and responsibilities, please visit our website at http://www.oag.state.tx.us/open/index_orl.php, or call the Office of the Attorney General's Open Government Hotline, toll free, at (877) 673-6839. Questions concerning the allowable charges for providing public information under the Act must be directed to the Cost Rules Administrator of the Office of the Attorney General, toll free, at (888) 672-6787.

Sincerely,

Paige Lay

Assistant Attorney General

Open Records Division

PL/ag

Ref: ID# 442005

Enc. Submitted documents

cc: Requestor

(w/o enclosures)

Footnotes

1. Section 552.147(b) of the Government Code authorizes a governmental body to redact a living person's social security number from public release without the necessity of requesting a decision from this office under the Act. Gov't Code § 552.147(b). The previous determination issued in Open Records Decision No. 684 (2009) authorizes all governmental bodies to withhold ten categories of information, including Texas license plate numbers, without the necessity of requesting an attorney general decision. Section 552.130(c) of the Government Code authorizes a governmental body to redact, without the necessity of requesting a decision from this office, the motor vehicle record information described in subsections 552.130(a)(1) and (a)(3). See Gov't Code § 552.130(c); see also id. § 552.130(d)-(e) (requestor may appeal governmental body's decision to withhold information under section 552.130(c) to attorney general and governmental body withholding information pursuant to section 552.130(c) must provide certain notice to requestor).

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